School Hit With a Lawsuit over Dodgeball Game Injury

By Minara El-Rahman on November 18, 2009 12:02 PM

A Bronx school was hit with a lawsuit because a 12 year old was injured during a school dodgeball game while he was sitting on the sidelines.

According to the New York Daily News, 12 year old Shane Reese of the Bronx was hit in the face with a soccer ball and suffered a mouth injury during a game of dodgeball at public school IS 219. The City of New York has offered Reese $20,000 in order to settle the lawsuit.

His lawyer Mark Weinberger is quoted by the New York Daily News as saying: "Soccer balls were flying all over the place. There was an issue of lack of supervision." According to the lawsuit, gym teachers gathered over a 100 students into a gymnasium and gave them soccer balls to play dodgeball with instead of the more gentle red dodgeballs that are typically used in the schoolyard activity. Soccer balls are typically harder and hurt more when an individual is hit with it.

Ironically, Reese was sidelined because he told teachers that he did not want to participate in the brutal game. He was concerned because he had some dental work done on his teeth because of a car crash. It was while Reese was on the sidelines that he got hit square in the face with the soccer ball, suffering a painful mouth injury. The dental work Reese tried so hard to protect was smashed on impact.

A judge in the Bronx Supreme Court will decide whether the city's offer for settlement will suffice. In the meantime, you have to feel sorry for the poor kid. He suffers a car accident and a visit to the dentist only to get his teeth knocked during a game of dodgeball that he didn't even play in. Talk about traumatic!